Monkey D. Luffy, the boy made out of rubber, is back in One Piece - Season
One Voyage Two from FUNimation. One of the most popular and longest
running anime series (currently at over 370 episodes) One Piece is
an irreverent and fun filled romp that's sure to please young and old viewers
alike. In this set Luffy continues to fill out his pirate crew and
starts one of the most enjoyable story arcs in the series: his search
for a cook and his encounter with the Baratie restaurant.

Series background:

When Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates was executed, he used his last words
to tell the world that he had hidden all of his treasure: "You want it, you
can have it. Find it! I left everything the world has to offer there!" This
started the Great Pirate Era: the seas are filled with men looking for adventure,
riches, and most of all Gold Roger's treasure: the One Piece.

Of the many looking for the One Piece, few are as unlikely to find it as
Monkey D. Luffy. This young boy has vowed to become King of the Pirates,
but he doesn't have a ship, or even a crew. He sets off to sea in a barrel,
and it is only by luck that he's taken aboard a pirate ship.

While Luffy may have none of the skills that a pirate would need, like how
to navigate on water (or dry land for that matter) he does have a powerful
advantage: he's eaten a Gum-Gum Devil Fruit. This magical object has turned
his body to rubber. Not only does this make him invulnerable to bullets and
most physical attacks, but he can stretch his arms great lengths and use
his first as powerful weapons or turn himself into a human slingshot and
launch his body through the air. Along with his unwavering resolve to succeed,
this makes him a formidable opponent.

The first set of shows basically involves Luffy getting his crew together
along with cleaning the floor with a couple of mean pirates (and an evil
naval officer.) The first person he recruits is Zoro (translated as Zolo
in the manga) a pirate-hunter who wants to become known as the best swordsman
in the world. He also manages to convince an attractive thief, Nami, to become
his navigator, and as this set ends has just met Usopp, a youth who's good
with a slingshot (and telling tall tales) who has dreams of becoming a great
pirate also.

This set:

The collection opens with Luffy, Zoro, and Nami helping a young man, Usopp,
defend his village against the Black Cat Pirates and their captain, Kuro.
The Black Cats seem to be very formidable, and with Luffy knocked out it's
anyone's guess who will win. They first send Meowban Brothers to clear
out Luffy's gang, but Zoro is more than a match for them.

Things get worse when Kuro gets into the action. He's tired of being
a pirate, so he plans to get a his 2nd command, Jango, to hypnotize a local
heiress, have her write out a will naming Kuro as sole heir to her fortune,
and then kill her. Then he'll be a respected member of society.
The only problem is that his crew knows that he used to be a pirate captain,
so he decided to kill them too. Luffy wakes up just in time to hear
this and doesn't like it at all. How dare he disrespect his crew by
killing them?!! There's no way the rubber kid is going to stand for
that.

Next, after a quick stand alone episode, Luffy and the gang set sail.
They soon realize that though they have food, they don't have anyone who
can prepare it. They need a cook, and the best place to find one is
on the Baratie restaurant, a floating eatery housed on a ship that looks
like a fish that caters to pirates. As they arrive a naval war ship
shows up too and fires at Luffy's ship. He deflects the cannon ball
but it lands on the Baratie and destroys part of the roof. Luffy wants
to pay for the damages, but since he doesn't have any money the head cook,
Chef Zeff, agrees to let him off if he works for the restaurant for one year
with no pay. Luffy agrees, but he's sure he'll be able to talk Zeff
down quickly.

Things get bad when the pirate Don Krieg shows up. He took a fleet
of 50 ships and 5000 men to the Grand Line to look for the One Piece and
his entire flotilla, save one ship, was destroyed in under a week.
Now he's come back in search of a new ship, and the Baratie looks like just
the ticket.

Like the first set, these shows are just a lot of fun. This anime is
based on a long running manga that appears in Shonen Jump, and as
such it's aimed at young boys. There are lots of fights and plenty of action.
What makes this show better than several other Shonen Jump-based anime
is that this one doesn't take itself seriously at all. With tongue planted
firmly in cheek, Luffy and his friends walk through a strange and unusual
world that's almost comical. In the stand alone episode Luffy meets
a man who has been stuck in an empty treasure chest for so long that it has
grown to be a part of him. He lives on an island with elephant-sized
turtles and other odd creatures. That's not to mention the Baratie,
the fish-shaped floating restaurant, or the pirate Pearl, an effeminate villain
who catches on fire when he gets upset. With strange and unusual characters,
outrageous situations, and a tongue firmly planted in cheek, One Piece
is a great show.

It should also be noted that this is the uncut version of the show. Though
it is aimed at kids, there is some swearing. People called "ass" and "son
of a bitch", but nothing worse than that. People do get killed too, and when
blood is spilled it's red. The show isn't very bloody though, and I had no
problems letting my 6th grader watch it.

The DVD:

This set contains the next 13 episodes (14-26) on two DVDs, each in its own
thinpak case. The two cases are held in a nice slipcase.

Audio:

This set offers the original Japanese track in stereo as well as an English
dub in either stereo or 5.1. While the 5.1 dub was nice during the battle
scenes, I preferred the original language track. The voices just seemed to
fit characters better and made for a more enjoyable viewing experience. The
English voice actors did do a good job however and people who like watching
in English shouldn't be disappointed.

Video:

The full frame video looked pretty good overall. The colors were bright and
solid and the blacks were nice and inky. The image was generally sharp too.
The only real problem was a more than average amount of aliasing. Diagonal
lines are often jagged and when the camera pans across a scene, fine lines
tend to shimmer a bit. There's also a bit of cross colorization, but it wasn't
distracting.

Extras:

I was a little disappointed that the bonus items were so meager. There's
a "Marathon Play" option, which lets you watch the show without the opening
and closing credits, which is really cool. I wish more anime would offer
something like this. Unfortunately the only other bonus item is a clean
opening.

Final Thoughts:

A funny, irreverent, and exciting show, it's great to finally get to see
this program in its uncut form. With a lot of adventure and action, this
show never takes itself seriously and that's what makes it so enjoyable.
While there aren't many laugh-out-loud sections, the whole attitude of the
show will have you smiling all the way through. Highly Recommended.